Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Active window looses focus at random

Hi all,


Recently in the past couple weeks or so I've noticed while working on my Mac the front most current window of whichever application I am in will loose focus at random times and act as if I clicked on another window of that app and recede to the background etc... There doesn't seem to be any method to the madness nor have I installed anything new as of late that I can think could be causing this. It happens several times a day and is very frustrating. It's specially annoying while working in any image editing apps causing all sorts of slow down to my workflow.


Can anyone tell me how to go about tracking down the cause? Ive done a bit of research online and there seems to be some terminal commands that should be able to give me an idea but I haven't had any luck here. Probably because all of the threads I saw were outdated by several years and MOST likely because I'm not very familiar working in the terminal etc....


Anyone have suggestions? Much thanks in advance.


-Dom



Machine Specs:

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)

Mac OS High Sierra (10.13.5)

4.2 GHz Intel Core i7

40 GB 2400 MHz DDR4

1 TB Flash Storage (300 GB Free)

Radeon Pro 580 8192 MB

Wacom Cintiq 27QHDT Display

Posted on Jun 11, 2018 10:19 PM

Reply

Similar questions

4 replies

Jun 14, 2018 12:24 PM in response to CT

Much thanks for the reply.


I haven't investigated the issue in safe mode yet because it doesn't happen consistently enough to really sit down and wait for it to happen. It does happen often just not consistent. For example: sometimes it will happen 5 times in an hour and then go quiet for several hours etc... Might be able to work in guest mode for a day but even that would take a bit of time to set up my workspace.


I did download the EtreCHeck app and gave that a go though. Here are the results:


EtreCheck version: 4.3.2 (4D034)

Report generated: 2018-06-14 15:08:35

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 1:58

Performance: Excellent


Problem: Other problem

Description:

Active window looses focus at random

The front most current window of whichever application I am in will loose focus at random times and act as if I clicked on another window of that app and recede to the background


Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.


No Time Machine backup- Time Machine backup not found.


Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.


Unsigned files- There is unsigned software installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.

32-bit Apps- This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.


Hardware Information:

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)

iMac Model: iMac18,3

1 4.2 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-7700K) CPU: 4-core

40 GB RAM - Upgradeable

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR4 2400 ok

BANK 0/DIMM1 - 16 GB DDR4 2400 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR4 2400 ok

BANK 1/DIMM1 - 16 GB DDR4 2400 ok


Video Information:

Radeon Pro 580 - VRAM: 8192 MB

iMac

Cintiq 27QHDT 2560 x 1440 @ 60 Hz


Drives:

disk0 - APPLE SSD SM1024L 1.00 TB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)

Internal PCI-Express 8.0 GT/s x4 NVM Express

disk0s1 - EFI [EFI] 315 MB

disk0s2 1.00 TB

disk1s1 - Macintosh HD (APFS) 1.00 TB (846.16 GB used)

disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] 1.00 TB (22 MB used)

disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] 1.00 TB (518 MB used)

disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] 1.00 TB (3.22 GB used)


Mounted Volumes:

disk1s1 - Macintosh HD 1.00 TB (150.11 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /


disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] 1.00 TB (150.11 GB free)

APFS

Mount point: /private/var/vm


Network:

Interface usbserial-1415: Single RS232-HS

Interface usbserial-1435: Single RS232-HS 2

Interface usbserial-14350: Single RS232-HS 3

Interface usbserial-14150: Single RS232-HS 4

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface en6: iPad

Interface en5: iPhone

One IPv4 address

Interface en1: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

One IPv4 address

Interface en4: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

iCloud Quota: 1.33 TB available


System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 (17F77)

Time since boot: About 5 hours

System Load: 1.22 (1 min ago) 1.47 (5 min ago) 1.57 (15 min ago)


Security:

SystemStatus
GatekeeperMac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity ProtectionEnabled


Unsigned Files:

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.corel.CorelUpdateHelperTask.agent.plist

Executable: /Library/Preferences/com.corel.CUH/CUH.app/Contents/MacOS/CUH -macSched

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.wacom.UpdateHelper.plist

Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.wacom.UpdateHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/com.wa com.UpdateHelper

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK

Launchd: /Library/LaunchAgents/com.xrite.colormunkitray.plist

Executable: /Library/Application Support/Colormunki/Display/Tools/ColorMunkiDisplayTray.app/Contents/Scripts/cre ateLoginItem.sh

Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK


32-bit Applications:

12 32-bit apps


Kernel Extensions:

/Library/Extensions

[Not Loaded] FTDIKext.kext (1.0 - SDK 10.13)

[Loaded] HueSync.kext (Philips Lighting B.V., 1.0 - SDK 10.12)

[Not Loaded] Wacom Tablet.kext (Wacom Technology Corp., Wacom Tablet 6.3.30-2 - SDK 10.13)


/System/Library/Extensions

[Loaded] PainterAudioDriver.kext (Corel Corporation., 1.0 - SDK 10.13)


System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded]8 Apple tasks
[Loaded]157 Apple tasks
[Running]127 Apple tasks
[Other]One Apple task


System Launch Daemons:

[Not Loaded]35 Apple tasks
[Loaded]176 Apple tasks
[Running]123 Apple tasks


Launch Agents:

[Loaded]com.xrite.device.softwareupdate.plist (? 2f2d6b43 - installed 2015-09-18)
[Running]com.adobe.AdobeCreativeCloud.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-04-27)
[Running]com.wacom.DataStoreMgr.plist (? 2fe6c0b5 - installed 2018-06-06)
[Not Loaded]com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? ffb65062 - installed 2017-08-25)
[Running]com.wacom.wacomtablet.plist (Wacom Technology Corp. - installed 2018-06-06)
[Loaded]com.xrite.colormunkitray.plist (? 50aad7cf - installed 2016-09-26)
[Not Loaded]com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Loaded]com.corel.CorelUpdateHelperTask.agent.plist (? a7a28479 - installed 2018-06-03)
[Other]com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a2 3d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13)


Launch Daemons:

[Loaded]com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13)
[Running]com.sonos.SonosLibraryServer.plist (Sonos, Inc. - installed 2018-06-13)
[Loaded]com.apple.installer.osmessagetracing.plist (Apple - installed 2018-05-29)
[Loaded]com.wacom.displayhelper.plist (Apple - installed 2018-06-06)
[Running]com.adobe.acc.installer.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-04-27)
[Running]com.edovia.screens.connect.plist (Edovia Inc. - installed 2018-03-26)
[Running]com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Loaded]com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-02-13)
[Running]com.adobe.agmservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Running]com.backblaze.bzserv.plist (Backblaze - installed 2018-01-29)
[Running]com.xrite.device.xrdd.plist (? 28f4ae75 - installed 2015-09-18)
[Running]com.wacom.UpdateHelper.plist (? 247c9951 - installed 2018-06-06)


User Launch Agents:

[Running]com.ecamm.printopia.plist (? 0 - installed 2017-09-01)
[Loaded]com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-02-03)
[Not Loaded]com.adobe.GC.Invoker-1.0.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-05-29)
[Running]com.backblaze.bzbmenu.plist (Backblaze - installed 2018-06-14)
[Loaded]com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist (? 0 - installed 2017-08-25)


User Login Items:

BetterSnapTool Application (Mac App Store - installed 2017-10-19)

(/Applications/BetterSnapTool.app)

iTunesHelper Application (Apple - installed 2018-05-29)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)

Screens Connect Launcher SMLoginItem (Edovia Inc. - installed 2018-04-23)

(/Applications/Screens Connect.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/Screens Connect Launcher.app)


Internet Plug-ins:

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2018-05-17)

AdobePDFViewer: 18.011.20040 (installed 2018-05-17)

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-06-01)

AdobeAAMDetect: 3.0.0.0 (installed 2018-04-27)


3rd Party Preference Panes:

Backblaze Backup (installed 2018-01-29)

Printopia (installed 2017-09-01)

WacomTablet (installed 2018-06-06)


Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!


Top Processes by CPU:

Process (count)Source% of CPULocation
WindowServerApple3
kernel_taskApple1
Adobe CEF Helper (2)Adobe Systems, Inc.0
Adobe Desktop ServiceAdobe Systems, Inc.0
sandboxdApple0


Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count)SourceRAM usageLocation
kernel_taskApple2.09 GB
SafariApple687 MB
mdworker (11)Apple202 MB
assistant_serviceApple183 MB
spindumpApple179 MB


Top Processes by Network Use:

ProcessSourceInputOutputLocation
mDNSResponderApple3 MB794 KB
MailApple502 KB28 KB
usbmuxdApple70 KB54 KB
apsdApple24 KB29 KB
netbiosdApple9 KB6 KB


Top Processes by Energy Use:

Process (count)SourceEnergy (0-100)Location
WindowServerApple2
launchdApple1
Adobe CEF Helper (2)Adobe Systems, Inc.1
Creative CloudAdobe Systems, Inc.0
Core SyncAdobe Systems, Inc.0


Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM32.76 GB
Free RAM29.75 GB
Used RAM7.24 GB
Cached files3.01 GB
Swap Used65 MB


Software Installs (past 30 days):

NameVersionInstall Date
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (18.011.20040)18.011.200402018-05-17
The Unarchiver3.11.62018-05-27
iTunes12.7.52018-05-29
Hue Sync1.0.0fc32018-05-31
Gatekeeper Configuration Data1402018-06-01
Painter 201919.02018-06-07
Wacom Tablet02018-06-09


Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):

2018-06-10 15:05:33 iTunes.app Hang

/Applications/iTunes.app


2018-06-09 20:55:16 WacomTabletDriver.app Crash

/Library/Application Support/Tablet/WacomTabletDriver.app



End of report


Any thoughts? Much thanks again!

Active window looses focus at random

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.